Misadventures of a Midlife Married Couple

Today is my birthday, and while it was not exciting, Marty hurt his back helping me out at the school and I came home with a violent stomach bug last night, it was enjoyable for other reasons. I got to spend the entire day in my pajamas with my husband, granted it was -8 today and neither of us wanted to get dressed but hey, small victories.

The last 20 years my birthday has been bittersweet, my Dad passed away suddenly the day before my birthday and the two are forever connected. As I rolled into 51 I once again reflected on how tragically young Dad was, he was 59, only 19 days away from turning 60. He would have fought tooth and nail against me moving here, but would love how happy I am.

Anyway, the last couple of weeks have been jam packed! We held a Christmas craft night at the school, a chunk of the community was there, honestly I was shocked at how many people showed, we even had high school boys there to decorate ornaments! We went through around 300 ornaments… I could not believe… NEXT year we will do more wooden rounds! 🙂 (I ordered clear acrylic Christmas balls, trees, and snowflakes… I GOT clear acrylic balls, blue trees, and green snowflakes… why?? no idea lol).

Discovered a super awesome tradition here in town. The Popcorn Committee (this is what they call themselves), posts a list of every house in town, complete with every member, in the hallway of the Native Store. Everyone donates what they can and the Popcorn Committee makes sure that EVERY. SINGLE. PERSON. in the village gets a Christmas gift. EVERY. SINGLE PERSON. If that isn’t the Spirit of Christmas I don’t know what is.

Toys for Tots was here this past week… and when I say here I mean in force! The Marines from Anchorage sent 10 big boxes full of toys for our students and community. (Ironically they were literally picked up from the airport using a sled 🙂 ). Wednesday night a cadre of 9 Marines, led by a local guide, rode snow machines from Kotzebue, through blowing snow, in single digit temperatures, to act as Santa and his elves and deliver gifts to our kids. All I can say is that they made the days of a LOT of kids. (so donate to them rather than the Salvation Army!)

We have one week left of school until break starts, I will be leaving the village mid week to escort my amazing wrestler who qualified for state. I hope she kicks serious ass, she deserves accolades and recognition for her hard work. It will require me to be gone for 5 days tho. The down side is missing school the last three days before break AND being away from Marty that long (yes, we still enjoy being together that much!).The up side is I might be able to find somewhere to get a pedi and get my hair trimmed… Marty said earlier “I’m sure they have a Supercuts… ” it’s like he has a death wish or something.

We are both looking so forward to some down time, but to be honest our first 5 months here have FLOWN by. I canNOT believe it is December. We came here determined to make the best of it and to enjoy the beauty of the place. To say that we have both fallen in love with the place AND the people is just such an understatement. As an educator for tw *cough cough* enty years I can honestly say I have never felt more appreciated or seen than I have since I have been here. It’s a nice change! I’m definitely not saying it is without challenges, it most assuredly has them, just that people recognize and appreciate the work that teachers do.

Marty has been able to get out and explore on the snow machine and is looooving it. He is the thrill seeker.

I ordered and shipped almost all the Christmas gifts at the first of the month, worried that they wouldn’t make it… they have all made it… and most of our family have cheated and opened theirs! I’m so used to having to plan for shipping that I forgot it will actually get there! lol.

That’s all for now, just thought it was time for an update.

For now Happy Holidays from the Hall’s to you. This is a wonderful time of the year filled with joy, love, and celebrations. THIS will be the time of year when we both miss our family and our framily, we both hope you have a fantastic holiday season filled with happiness and surrounded by loved ones.